Spectres
by KroganVanguard
Summary: Episodic story that follows FemShep in an AU post-ME3 setting where she settles into life as a Spectre. Contains FemShep, OCs, an AU ending and will update irregularly. Nonetheless, please review!
1. Chapter 1

_This is an on-going episodic story set post-ME3. Contains FemShep, an AU ending, OCs, no romance (yet) and generally will update as and when I feel like writing a new chapter. _

* * *

The Citadel was vastly different now from the last time she'd been here, Shepard noted. Or the last-to-last time even, Catalyst be damned. Once these corridors had thronged with refugees and soldiers, but now they were emptier than ever, most diplomats retreating to their homes to help out with the post-war rebuilding efforts. The human councillor's office, once home to that rat Udina, was dark and dusty. She had heard there were some talks about replacing him back at home, but with Earth still devastated, and the only real leadership coming from Hackett and what remained of his fellow senior officers, she didn't think it would happen for a while yet. Elections would need to be held, strategic decisions to be made, all of which was being put off while simple problems of healing, feeding and housing those who had been displaced and caught up in the Reaper attacks were tackled.

She looked further down the corridor, where only emergency lighting was flickering fitfully. They hadn't wanted her on her feet so soon, but she'd felt like she was going crazy cooped up in that hospital bed. Shepard leaned back against the wall and looked down at her hands, at the fine pattern of scarring that webbed them. They'd said she had only been half-alive when they had pulled her out from the rubble of the Catalyst section, a heart only just pumping thanks to her cybernetic implants. She had woken for the first time three days later, after the emergency immediate surgery, to find Jack and Garrus by her bedside, keeping vigil. The tears had come unbidden as within fifteen minutes the rest of her crew- heck her family- had reassembled by her bedside. Two by two, they had kept watch 24 hours of the day, never leaving her alone, making sure she would always have someone to wake up to. Garrus, Liara, Tali and Ash, from the old days, Miranda and Jack (not at each other's throats, for once), Jacob, Samara, Grunt, Joker, EDI, Vega, even Javik. She had lead them and looked after them, and mothered them, and chewed them out, and in turn in her hour of need they had been there.

Of course, while she had recovered back on Earth, they had gone back to work, to aid the rebuilding efforts in their own way. Garrus was back on Palaven, promoted again to another senior Hierarchy position (one he would quit soon, if what she read between the lines in his letters were any indication). Tali was back on Rannoch, helping build the geth-quarian Coalition, and occasionally taking her mask off to breath fresh air. Liara and Samara were both back on Thessia, Jack and Kahlee had re-established what was left of Grissom Academy temporarily back on Earth, Joker and EDI and the _Normandy _were tasked as a fast picket/courier for the Systems Alliance while the mass relays were down and so were the others scattered around the galaxy, doing what they could, but always, always staying in touch. A daily mail message made the rounds, filled with the weird and the wonderful, from Vega's awful jokes to Samara's not-so-gentle haranguing to stay within the code to Grunt's terse descriptions of the changes that Wrex and Bakara wrought day-by-day on Tuchanka. Her people. Her crew. A bond forged in the fire a thousand suns could not hope to match.

She mourned the lost, the ones she had not been able to save. Kaidan on Virmire, giving his life to ensure the bomb went off and Saren's plans were thwarted. Mordin, who sacrificed his life in saving the krogan species. Wrex's first son was going to be Urdnot Mordin. Legion, who had done the same to bring evolved identity and consciousness to geth programs. Who had made the newly-forged pact between geth and quarians on Rannoch possible. And Thane…her heart clenched, and she blinked away the tears that had sprung up at the corners of her eyes. She had known what she was getting into when they had first given into their mutual feelings, but even now her heart felt fragile when she thought about him. Kolyat messaged her from time to time, and she found some solace in keeping in touch with him. Her last living link to Thane.

Gently, she shook herself out of her reverie, and approached her destination, holding up her hand to the security pad and then standing still to let the full-body scan finish quickly.

"Spectre status recognised. Access granted."

The familiar electronic voice was strangely comforting, and the door slid open, letting her back into the Council Special Tactics and Reconnaissance office, where she hadn't been since before the assault on Earth. Unlike the rest of the floor, here there was full power and lighting, and as she walked down the corridor into the main part of the office she noticed the place was in better shape than she was expecting. And then she saw something that stopped her quite cold. There was someone else here. Apart from the business with the hanar diplomat where she'd worked alongside the salarian Spectre Jondum Bau, she hadn't even run into any other Spectres here before. Not to mention that apart from Bau, and Ash, the other Spectres she had crossed paths with had tried to kill her at one point or another.

The turian woman at the console turned around to face her as Shepard came forward. She was tall, taller than Shepard by at least a couple of centimetres, and slender. A delicate horn-like fringe, with the right one ending abruptly halfway, and large dark eyes were framed by silvery-white tattoos. She wore a well-worn suit of Kassa armour, and Shepard noted the high model Claymore shotgun strapped to her back, and the Carnifex heavy pistol strapped to her waist.

"Commander Shepard, a pleasure to finally meet you." The voice was clear and calm, and she smiled as she spoke. "Cariana Artellus, a fellow Spectre." She carefully stuck out a hand, an obvious attempt at aping the human handshake. Shepard paused briefly, then shook the proffered hand, callused human hands meeting tough turian talons.

"Hi. Luisa Shepard. Call me Shepard, everyone else does. I'm surprised to find someone here. Place was usually empty when I dropped by during the war." Shepard leaned back against the railing across from Cariana, the comforting weight of her own Black Widow and geth submachinegun clipped to her plain black and white N7 armour making her feel like she really did belong here once again. Spending six months recovering from a shattered hip, broken femur and ginormous amounts of internal bleeding made her feel incredibly rusty about coming back into the field again. It wasn't like Lazarus because she'd been awake and itching through her entire recovery, feeling her reflexes getting slow, her co-ordination dip.

"I was on Vandanus, one of Hierarchy's bigger colonies. Got caught there by the Reapers, so ended up as part of the ground resistance forces. Fun times." She quirks her jaw mandibles in an almost-smile, and runs a talon along her broken fringe-horn. "Almost lost my head to a brute. Luckily he only got my fringe before the grenade I'd shoved down his throat blew up."

Shepard grinned as she nodded, a look of recognition passing between the two women. An acknowledgment that they'd been there and done that, one that could never come from someone who'd only sat behind a desk.

"Yeah I guess a lot of us would've been caught up like that. I barely got out from Earth without having my ship shot out from underneath me." A harrowing and ugly escape, one that felt cowardly even in hindsight. Vega angry with them for running, Ashley still in accusatory mode about Cerberus, the mess on Mars all contributed to an unhappy set of memories. Still, at least the story had finished with a happy ending of sorts.

"Right. Bet more than a few were dispersed by Council orders when they realised that you were right and Reapers were fucking coming. Not many of us left now, I gather." Cariana's voice is sombre, and Shepard lifted an eyebrow in a silent question.

"Had a briefing with Councillors Tevos and Sparatus. The rump Council, I guess. The salarians will be sending someone new, and so will your people I assume. Anyway, they said there's only about 25 Spectres left. And someone still has to go around putting out the fires." There had been over a hundred Spectres before the war, but they would have been where the fighting was hottest- Palaven, Thessia, Tuchanka, and the colony worlds in the path of the Reaper advance.

"Fires?"

"Cleaning up Cerberus remnants. Hunting down Reaper tech before it falls into the wrong hands. Going after the pirates and black marketers who are taking down vital medical and supply transports and selling the goods afterwards for much higher prices. The usual." Cariana ticked them off against her talons, and Shepard felt better for coming back. Clearly there was more work to be done, and she wouldn't be caught lounging around in a hospital ward if that was case. No matter what the doctors said about recovery time.

"On a personal note, I wanted to thank you for catching that sonofabitch Saren, and putting a bullet in him. Nihlus was…more than friend once. I was deep into a mission against some major Red Sand dealers, otherwise I would have come back at once to help you hunt him down." Shepard could almost feel the heat in her voice when she spoke of Saren, and she nodded in response.

"Nihlus was a good man. Feels like a lifetime ago now, but yes, taking down Saren felt good. Felt right."

"Was a lifetime for you Shepard, if the reports on Lazarus are right." Cariana's voice was dryly humorous, and Shepard couldn't help but smile. She liked the turian Spectre, and hoped they'd get a chance to work together soon. Before she could respond, the door slid open once more, the metallic voice confirming access for another Spectre. Two in the space of minutes was a new record for Shepard, and both she and Cariana turned to face the doorway corridor once again. The newcomer was an asari, solidly built and wearing the heavy armour favoured more by human vanguards. Her skin was a deep ocean blue, and she had pale golden markings on her forehead which made her look like she was wearing a crown. A Disciple light shotgun lay clipped to her back, and a late model Mattock assault rifle peeked up over her shoulder.

"Savira!" Cariana's voice startled Shepard from her observation, and she looked over to see the turian smile and walk towards the asari. In turn, Savira was smiling back, an expression that made her grimly neutral features blossom into something radiantly beautiful. Pale grey eyes lit up as she and Cariana fell into a heartfelt hug, one clearly between old friends who had not seen each other in some time. Perhaps had not even expected to see each other. Shepard let herself fade into the background a little, giving the two of them a moment to catch up.

"I heard you were on Thessia. When everything went down there, I feared the worst." There was genuine concern in Cariana's voice as the two disengaged and she leaned back to look her friend up and down. Savira's armour was battered and chipped, dented deeply at the left shoulder.

"I was. Got sent to help look after the matriarchs, not that those old crones needed that much looking after. We were evacuating when my shuttle got hit, and went down, so stayed back to help the ground resistance. Helped cobble together some old museum piece artillery batteries to take down a pair of Reaper destroyers, and then they really decided to come after us. Basically had us in the last few days, I could feel it." Savira swivelled to look directly at Shepard, eyes conveying respect and gratitude. "Till Shepard came through and they fell over dead basically right outside the door of our so-called safehouse. Helped with security and rebuilding for the last few months, till having to deal with my fellow fucking asari all the time was driving me nuts, and then caught the next fast transport to here." Savira strode forwards to Shepard, who came out to meet her, and then grasped the offered hand.

"Shepard. Savira T'Miran. Didn't know you were awake and walking. We heard about the Catalyst and everything. Thanks. Nice fucking work." Savira's grip was strong and even, and she abruptly pulled Shepard into a hug. In turn Shepard lightly patted the back of the asari's thick armour. Savira was nothing like most of the other asari Shepard had met. She reminded her of Jack, maybe with a dashing of Aria T'Loak, with that slight craziness almost every vanguard Shepard had ever met had.

"Thanks, Savira. Luisa Shepard. And I had a lot of help and a lot of luck."

"Fuck that Shepard, you make your own luck. Alright ladies, I say with blow this joint and go get some beers. Even some of that dextro crap for you, Cari."


	2. Chapter 2

They settled into a cosy back booth of a bar near where the old refugee settlements had been. After the Reaper attack on the Citadel which had brought to Earth, and its liberation after Shepard managed to use the Catalyst to destroy the Reapers, the refugees had fled once more, back to their own homes and worlds in most cases. The return of the Citadel to its original location had taken quite a few months, though with Javik translating Prothean tech plans and findings, things had gone much smoother than initially anticipated.

The bar was empty except for them, and a young turian bartender brought them their drinks quickly and then retreated behind the bar.

"Cheers." Savira knocked her bottle against Shepard's, and Cariana joined them with the glass of turian wine she had ordered.

"So, Sav, who else have you heard from?" Cariana's voice was business-like and she brought up her omni-tool to record and take notes from their conversation. Shepard quickly turned hers on too, not keen on getting left behind.

"Me, Karis, Bellon, Jardia, and Mernus were all on Thessia. Bellon's still there. Jardia too, but in a hospital. She won't…she won't ever walk again. Mernus bought it against a pair of banshees. Karis is dead too." Savira swallowed half her beer in one gulp after she spoke, and squeezed her eyes shut, fighting away any tears. Shepard looked away. 5 Spectres on Thessia, and only 2 had made it out in fighting condition.

"Jardia…shit. I'll send her a message anyway. Mernus too? I know his brother survived back on Palaven. Why the hell did they send a turian out to Thessia anyway? And Karis. I did an op with her once. Batarian slavers. Best damn singularity I ever saw. Sav…that makes you the senior most surviving Spectre." Cariana tapped away at her omni-tool, making notes, and then turned to Shepard. "Sav's been a Spectre for almost a century. Longer than most of us have been alive."

"Shit, it's a not a job where most people retire with a pension, Cari. I'll just keep doing what I do till some fucker gets a lucky shot in. What about you anyway? Who have you heard from?" Savira took a slower pull of her beer this time, and Shepard looked at her with a new respect. Surviving nearly a century of Spectre-level operations was almost unbelievable, especially for the high-risk, high-reward combat style vanguards used.

"Mostly the salarians. Jondum, Tormin, Alrin, Darok- all on Sur'Kesh, all of them made it. Kelrus, Vanick, Keria, Mattis and Jeon were on Palaven and Menae. Vanick and Jeon are still there…"

"Shit, fucking salarians. You sure about Keria and Mattis?"

Cariana nods once, slowly.

"Fuck. Three of us took down a major black market arms cartel once. Got drunk and had a threesome to celebrate, going back 5 years or so now. Always promised we'd get together another time…" Shepard almost choked on her beer, but manages to recover at the last moment. Savira looks up and grins at her, and Cariana rolls her eyes. She's seeing a whole new side to the Spectre organisation now, the easygoing camaraderie that comes from being one of chosen few, knowing that they're out there, fighting the same or similar battles that as oneself.

"What about you, Shepard? Heard from that other human, whats her name…Williams? Ashlon? I ran into her about a month ago, back at the office, but she was on her way out, didn't have time for a chat." Cariana's still tapping away, still making notes, but she stops and glances up at Shepard, who shrugs.

"Last I heard from Ash, she was on Bekenstein, chasing down a Cerberus cell. That was two weeks ago."

"Nice. Fuck Cerberus. Read your reports Shepard. That Illusive Man was a really fucking pain in the ass." Shepard nods. Already no one's favourite in the wider galaxy thanks to their anti-alien stance, when the breadth of The Illusive Man's indoctrination and plans had been revealed, Cerberus had basically become the pariah of the galaxy. Assets were frozen, known members arrested and cells were being hunted down wherever they were discovered. Even the midst of the rebuilding, Hackett had detailed a large Alliance team to clean up and find out everything they could from Sanctuary before torching the place to the ground.

"Actually Shepard, the Council…well, Tevos and Sparatus wanted me to talk to you about possible Spectre candidates." While Cariana spoke, Savira waved the bartender over for another round. Shepard swallows what remains of her beer, and then nods at Cariana.

"Fucking Council. Useless fucks. Didn't believe Shepard till it blew up in their face, and now they're kissing ass." Savira grins ruefully at Shepard to let her know that only the Council is the target of her ire.

"The salarians are really pushing their candidates, as they have lots of senior STG guys. Mirrin, Edren, Kirrahee… But a lot of the surviving Spectres are already salarians, and appointing Spectres is a political and symbolic thing. They want to keep the appointments roughly even between Council species."

"Fucking salarians." Savira mutters over her new beer. A political creature she isn't, Shepard reckons.

"Kirrahee I know. He's a good guy. Think he could definitely do the job." Shepard's liked Kirrahee ever since Virmire. Seen how he'd led his troops. Made sure the mission got done. Then when she ran into him again on Sur'Kesh, when he personally promised to help her when she was ready to go back to Earth, it just reinforced her feelings. She values loyalty and integrity, and she repays it in kind.

"After Udina got Williams selected, and her success during the coup and with you, and after the war, the Council are looking at other people you trained, from your crew." Cariana taps her omni-tool again, and a list of names pops in a message on Shepard's omni-tool, and one second later beeps on Savira's too. The asari opens her list, but Shepard doesn't. She knows her crew by heart. No need for Council dossiers.

"I didn't train Ash. She served with me."

"Fuck semantics Shepard, whatever. You were their mentor, their commanding officer. You know these people like no one else. Let's start with the turian. Vakarian. Excellent combat skills, investigative knowledge for C-Sec service, leadership and confidence initially compromised during time as Archangel on Omega but since second stint with you has shown remarkable aptitude and necessary outlook to be successful Spectre. Relationship with quarian Admiral thought to be beneficial rather than harmful given current predictions of future political integration into the Council of quarians and even geth." Savira rattles off the assessment on Garrus, and Cariana nods at key points. Shepard is impressed by the level of intelligence and its acuity.

"Yeah, Garrus was my first thought. If you can get the Hierarchy to cough him up." Shepard smiles at the thought of Garrus becoming a Spectre, like they'd talked about all those years ago back on the old _Normandy_. He deserved it.

"That's a problem for Sparatus. I served in the same unit as Garrus once, you know. Infantry scout. We didn't get along at the start, but he was an excellent soldier. Settled our differences in the end though." Cariana speaks in a clipped, professional manner, but Shepard does choke on her beer this time, memory of a conversation in the main battery returning unbidden. She eyes Cariana again, who has moved on down the list. She does look pretty flexible.

"We believe Dr. T'Soni will be more valuable to you as information source, and Samara wishes only to continue to serve as a Justicar." Shepard nods at Cariana's words. Liara and Samara are both on Thessia, helping in their own ways with the rebuilding.

"I like the sound of this Jack, but she's probably still a bit too unstable. Put her on the watch list for the future Cari. Massani has poor judgment and leadership, too many of his people die. If the krogan get their shit together and become a proper Council species…put Urdnot Grunt on the watch list too." Savira necks at her beer as she speaks and Shepard joins her, allowing the cool amber liquid to flow down her throat. She feels relaxed, in a way she probably hasn't since the whole mess began back on Eden Prime all those years ago.

"Taylor and Lawson?" Savira glances at Shepard, than Cariana inquisitively.

"Cerberus?" Cariana flares her mandibles and shakes her head.

"Ex-Cerberus. Taylor was never fucking strident. But he's a father now. Unlikely to leave his family. Lawson is more problematic. Intelligent, combat specialist with biotic powers, superb strategic and tactical mind, no longer has hit squads and merc companies after her thanks to the death of her father and the destruction of Cerberus. The line she espoused wasn't all that different from what Williams initially did too. Thoughts, Shepard?" Both Spectres turn to look at her, and Shepard decides to take a moment before she answers. Miranda has grown and changed a lot since they first met, and her actions during the destruction of the Collector Base definitely signified a maturity in her outlook that had not existed before.

"I think she'd make a fine Spectre. But maybe you should pull her into a non-human team environment first, something like a C-Sec special squad, just to make sure she's definitely over her some of her issues. I'm not sure she fully signed on with the Cerberus agenda even before they got extreme and she left, more that she was looking for direction in her life that they gave her."

Cariana and Savira both nod, making independent notations into their omni-tools, and Shepard takes a sip. Miranda hasn't been in touch as much as some of the others, but while she is helping out back on Earth, Shepard knows she's looking for a better outlet for her talents. Working for the Council after working for the Spectres would be a big leap to make, but Shepard is confident in Miranda's ability.

"I think getting her to fix some of the galaxy's bigger problems is a fine use of her talents. As long as you're prepared for the occasional…pragmatic solution." Cariana and Savira glance at each other, and then the turian smiles, a colder smile than Shepard has seen before.

"Spectres get the job done, Shepard. We'll take her into consideration."

"Besides, would you look at that fuckin' ass. Man I need to tap that. We need more genetically perfect humans around here." Cariana rolled her eyes at Savira's pronouncement, and Shepard chuckled.

"Stop drooling over Lawson. You're definitely not getting her for assessment." Cariana was slightly brusque and Savira pouted in response.

"Just because you're all bonded to the perfect fucking Dr. Dannen doesn't mean the rest of can't have some fun."

"Dannen?" Shepard asked her fellow Spectre.

"My husband. He's a doctor, back on Palaven. He survived, thankfully." Cariana brings up an image on her omni-tool. She and a tall turian male stand with their arms wrapped around each other, obviously happy.

"What about you Shepard?" Savira gags in jest at Cariana, and turns to Shepard for solace. She shrugs her shoulders, interlacing her fingers.

"No. No one for a while now."

"Well, if ever feel like embracing eternity, you know where to find me." Shepard can't help but chuckle at Savira's straightforwardness. It's refreshing in its own way, and she clinks her bottle against the asari's.

"Thanks. It's not likely, but I'll keep it in mind," she replies drily, fiddling with the clasp on the wrist of her armour-glove. "Are we done with the list?"

"Yes. Goto is the wrong line of work, but maybe you could stay in touch? We do occasionally need some items…retrieved from the people who possess them at the time." Cariana indicates the necessity of the situation with a shrug, and Shepard understands. Sometimes it's better to go in with the scalpel rather than the sledgehammer approach of a Spectre, all guns blazing.

"Shit, alright, enough. Ever thought of switching out your sniper rifle for a shotgun Shepard? You should see the havoc Cari here can raise with her Claymore from cloak. It's almost unfair." Shepard grinned. Now here was a real Spectre meeting.

"Nope, because my Black Widow can do all that and keep me safe and at a dist-"

"But the Valiant has a much higher rate of fire and lower recoil."

"Poor armour penetration on the other hand."

And so it went. The most pleasant hours Shepard had spent since she woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

Her finger twitched and the massive sniper rifle in her hand spat out a shot, exploding as it reached the dummy target. Smoothly she brought it down, compensating for the recoil then fired again. And again. Her hands moved of their own volition, reloading and firing. Another clip, another reload, another clip, another reload, till it was happening as smoothly and quickly as she remembered, till it felt right again, till she felt the rifle feel like an extension of her. Another limb, another way to impose her will on the battlefield.

The firing range was no replacement for the real thing of course. Mainly it was here to let Spectres test weapons, let them gauge the suitability of what they carried for the mission they were given. But she had come back every day since that discussion with Cariana and Savira, simply firing and reloading till her arms ached and shoulder was sore. She practiced on her Black Widow and her Carnifex, but also on shotguns and assault rifles. It had been a week now, and her arms no longer felt sore when she stood and fired for hours on end, and she was pretty sure she could reload any gun in her sleep. Once more, time slowed for her when she looked through scope of a sniper rifle, and she could aim and fire an electrical microdart from her omni-tool to overload shields and make the follow-up kill-shot in one smooth movement.

She wore the N7 armour every day, getting used to its weight and its feel till it was like a second skin. A new suit. Her old one hung in her room, battered and broken and dented, just like she had been. She went for runs with it on, practiced her dodging and rolling till her joints creaked and her ribs ached. She could feel herself improve, but not fast enough, so she was pushing harder and harder. She had even tried to talk Savira into some armoured hand-to-hand practice yesterday.

"Shep, I'll wrestle with you with the armour off. In bed. But any fucking idiot can see you're not ready for actual hand-to-hand. Stop pushing yourself and stick to the firing range." Savira had leered lasciviously but had been adamant in the face of Shepard's protests that she was in fact ready.

Shepard put another three clips down the range, and then set the gun down with a sigh. The Krysae was a real nice design, and maybe she'd even set her Black Widow down for a mission to give it a go in the field. Soon, if possible. She walked out of the range back to the Spectre office, which was empty. No new messages either. Cariana had set the wheels in motion for calling up Miranda and Garrus for evaluation, but politics and travel could delay their arrivals for weeks if not months. The turian Spectre had herself left yesterday, following up a lead from one of her information sources on a turian criminal cartel making a bid for power and making mischief given the somewhat fragile state of the Hierarchy.

Shepard stepped out into the main room, automatically checking for any important messages at the console. There were the usual requests from C-Sec, some authorisations she needed to sign off on that she was going through when she was interrupted by a call originating from the Council Chambers.

"Shepard. Welcome back to Spectre duty." It was Tevos, the regal asari looked harried and careworn, bags under her eyes. Her voice was professional but warm.

"Councillor. Good to be back. What can I do for you?" She sketched at a lazy semi-salute of sort at one of her two nominal bosses. After the clusterfuck with the Prothean beacon on Thessia, Shepard found herself noticeably cooler with the leadership of the Asari Republics, though she stopped herself short of being outright rude to the senior matriarchs she had found herself in contact with. She suspected she wasn't alone either. But that was for later. Here and now was not the time to get into that particular discussion with Tevos.

"How are you feeling? Are you ready to go back into the field?" There was a hopeful note to the question from the asari, and Shepard felt something inside her grin wolfishly. Yes, it was time. Past time.

"Absolutely. What have you got for me?" A brief look of relief flickered over the Councillor's features, before she settled back into a more neutral expression.

"Salarian intel agents are reporting that there's a major cache of Cerberus reverse-engineered Reaper tech that some of their ex-members are trying to sell by auction. There isn't an asari commando unit or STG team that can be on scene before the auction can be concluded. We need you to infiltrate the facility, neutralise the security on-site and hold till we can free up a team." Shepard nodded along, as she keyed her omni-tool to record, to review later along with the full mission brief.

"How do I get there?" Already part of her brain had started planning, considered weapon load out compared to probably opposition. She hadn't worked alone since Aratoht, but that wasn't a problem. In some ways, it made things even easier.

"One of our fast pickets is leaving for Earth in three hours. Be on it and it can drop you off on the way."

"Done."

"Thank you Shepard. Your support team will meet you on the ground near the facility."

"Support team?" Shepard raised an eyebrow at this unexpected development.

"A special ops team from allied species was tasked with anti-Cerberus operations during the war in that sector. Only two of the original four survived but they wiped out significant levels of Cerberus forces. They'll have specialised knowledge and are experienced combatants. Their files are attached at the end of the mission briefing I'm forwarding to you now. I have to go. Good luck."

"Thanks. Don't worry Councillor, I'll take care of this." Shepard flexed her fingers, itching to get back to what she did best, support team or no support team.

Tevos nodded at her, and then cut the connection.

Shepard finally let that wolfish grin rise to her face. It never touched her ice-cold eyes.

Savira came by an hour or so later, as Shepard packed her kit. The precious Black Widow had been the first thing she'd put into a case, along with a selection of mods even though she knew which two she'd use going up against Cerberus (scope to use infra-red imaging to see through the smoke grenades the centurions loved using, and an ammo capacity mod instead of armour piercing she usually favoured due to the fact that few Cerberus units used armour-plating). Ammo upgrades, single-use items, grenades and other sundries lay scattered around the workbench.

"Shep." She looked over her shoulder and nodded at Savira, who was logging onto the console to check her own messages.

"Savi."

"Going somewhere?" Savira waved a hand at the various bits of kit.

"Yep, Tevos called. Assignment."

"Shit, no kidding? You too huh? I'm leaving as well. Something about medical and aid transports to outlying asari colonies going missing. Fucking pirates. That Kirrahee of yours is coming along, meeting me at one of the colonies."

"Yeah, I'm going after some Cerberus-engineered Reaper tech. Tevos is dumping a pair of commandos in my lap. I'm pretty sure it's to see if either is Spectre material." Shepard shrugged. A quick glance at their files had told her an impressive story, but any real assessment could only come in the field.

"Yeah, I heard Jondum and Darmok will be here tomorrow." Savira moved to another workbench, picking up a shotgun and its necessary components, putting her own kit together. "It's always good to have a couple of us around Citadel just in case."

"I heard from Ashley too. She should be finished up in Bekenstein in a week or two and be back here after. Bit of a shame I go before then, but hopefully we can catch up after I deal with this Cerberus mess." Shepard had finished with her sniper rifle and had moved on to her back up gun, the lightweight geth SMG she kept in case of emergencies. The cloaking hardware in her armour worked a lot better the less weight she carried. The two Spectres worked in companionable silence, side by side for a few minutes, before Shepard packed up her gear and prepared to move out. The asari swivelled to face her.

"Bring yourself back in one piece Shep. Be pretty damn stupid to save the galaxy and die to some random Cerberus asshole." Savira said gruffly, brow knitted into a semi-frown.

Shepard let that wolfish smile return, allowed her fellow Spectre to see that inner self that she kept hidden from most people. The one that had first kept her alive on the streets as a 10-year-old orphan, which she had first harnessed and controlled during basic, and then earned her the nickname of the Butcher of Torfan. The asari met Shepard's flint-hard eyes, and nodded once, slowly, respectfully.

"Look after Kirrahee. He's one of the good ones. I'll see you on the flip side." Shepard shouldered her kit, and walked out. There was work to be done.


End file.
